


Separation Anxiety

by Zxiama



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bisexuality, F/F, F/M, Gen, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Letter, Hufflepuff, Leaky Cauldron, Lesbian Character, Muggle-born, Own Character, Post-Canon, Quidditch, Single Parents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-01-01 03:29:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18327716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zxiama/pseuds/Zxiama
Summary: When a single muggle mother has to let her only child go away to Hogwarts, she is enticed by the wonders of the Wizarding World. But when she finds companionship in a certain gay witch, she discovers that life for some isn't as magical as it ought to be.I'm interested in exploring the viewpoint of Hogwarts parents and also highlighting the queer magical community.





	1. The Letter

“Ryan, are you coming?”

“Yeah, just need to find…”

“Your shoes are by the door, Ry. Is that what you’re looking for?”

Ryan appeared from his bedroom door. When he spotted the shoes, he smiled and nodded.

“Good,” said Jennifer “we need to hurry up.” She had been late for work far too many times because of her son, Ryan. She loved him to bits of course, but he was always losing things.

Together, they bolted down the stairs and reached the communal front door. Jen shoved a key into their letterbox and grabbed the pile inside, quickly transferring it into her handbag, just as she did almost every day. She did not notice anything unusual in the post that morning. It wasn’t until Jen was on her lunchbreak, Ryan safely at his football tournament, and the stress of the morning gone, that she spotted a very official-looking letter with a bright red seal. She fished it out from her chaotic handbag and stared at it, wide-eyed.

Handwritten on the front of the yellowed parchment were the words:

Mr. R. Talbot,  
The Second Bedroom,  
Flat H Amethyst Court,  
Peckham,  
LONDON

It was strange enough to be receiving such a posh-looking letter at all, but addressed to Ryan? Well that was very, very strange.

Curiosity got the better of her. She opened it. Ryan, the letter said, had been accepted into a school called Hogwarts. She became more and more sceptical as she continued to read: “Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry”. Right. Well this had to be some kind of prank, perhaps one of Ryan’s school friends?

She glanced over the other pieces of paper- one of them was entitled “Muggle Orientation” and in the first line of writing she read: “A representative of the school will visit your home shortly to answer any questions you may have- don’t worry, we will have planned around your availability. In the meantime, please refer to the frequently asked questions below.”

Somebody’s coming to our home? Now she was a little scared. What was this Hogwarts place, she wondered? Could it be real?

She Googled it. As she typed the words “Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry” into the search engine, her brow furrowed.

Enter.

The screen took a while to load and when it did, she was not faced with the normal search engine results but instead the words:

Hello, Jennifer Talbot.  
According to our records, you will receive a visit today from Mr. Neville Longbottom at 17:30. He will answer any questions you may have.  
Please respect the privacy of the Wizarding World and do not discuss this with anybody other than the parties involved.  
Thank you,  
MAIVIS.

She had been confused. Now she was angry. Who the hell was MAIVIS? Why were these people ordering her around?

As she sat there, fuming and at a loss for what to do about it, her co-worker came over and pointed out that her lunchbreak ought to have finished 10 minutes ago. Cursing, she hurried back to work.

The café was so busy that day that she barely had time to come up with any sort of plan before her shift was over and she was heading to the car to collect Ryan. She had planned to show him the letter in the car, but the moment he spotted his mother, Ryan began an excitable, non-stop, blow-by-blow account of the tournament and how his team had dominated all the others. By the time they walked in the front door, it was 5.28 and Ryan bolted straight for his room to play Fortnite. Normally after a game she would have ordered him to take a shower straight away, but today she just hovered by the door, waiting.

The moment the clock on the cooker changed to 17:30, the buzzer rang.

Jen reacted quickly: “Hello?”

“Hello, err, can you hear me?"

“Yes, but I don’t want to let you in. I don’t know who you are."

“My name is Neville Longbottom, I am a teacher at Hogwarts, Miss Talbot.”

“Yes, I know that, or at least, that’s what the internet said. I don’t know, but…”

“Please, if you let me in, I can explain everything.”

“I…”

“Miss Talbot, has your son ever done anything unusual, ever made something happen that you couldn’t explain?”

There was a pause and then, almost involuntarily, she pressed the button and unlocked the door.


	2. The Talk

Neville Longbottom had been on quite a few visits to Muggle homes since becoming a professor at Hogwarts, but he still got quite nervous before each visit. The trouble was that there were so many different types of places that Muggles lived in, just when he thought he had understood how Muggle life worked he would encounter something new and confusing. He particularly disliked having to call a flat on the little box machines outside. He was never sure if they worked properly as Muggles had a tendency to ignore them and it could be very difficult to hear what the other person was saying. It was a shame, he thought, that he couldn’t just use magic to bypass the communal door and knock on the resident’s real front door, but this, he was assured, would be rude.

After persuading Jennifer to open the door without too much difficulty he felt a little proud of himself and began to climb the stairs. The Talbots lived on the fourth floor and there was no lift in the building. Not that Neville really trusted those Muggle contraptions, but he would at least have liked the option of using it. As it was, he had to ascend all the floors by foot and he couldn’t help but be reminded of the staircases at Hogwarts. Somehow those staircases had always gotten the better of him.

When Jen opened the door to their flat, her eyes met with a rather out of breath but handsome man just a few years older than herself. He was dressed in a smart suit, the effectiveness of which was slightly diminished by a very extravagant green and orange tie.

“Miss Talbot, as I have said, my name is Neville Longbottom and if you’ll allow me, I’d like to explain to you why your son Ryan has received an acceptance letter for Hogwarts.”

Jen couldn’t find anything to say but she stepped away from the door into the living room and indicated that Neville should sit on the sofa.

“Are you, err, going to get Ryan?”

“Not until you explain”

“I understand that you are confused Miss Talbot—”

“Jen”

“Jen, yes, um, I understand that you are confused, but I really would like to talk to both of you together.”

Jen wanted to tell this stranger to leave, to leave both her and Ryan alone, but there was something about him. He just seemed… trustworthy.

“RYAN! Can you come to the living room please?”

“NOT NOW MUM, I’M IN THE MIDDLE OF—”

“YES RYAN, NOW!”

Ryan appeared at the door, saying “But Mum, we were just about to—” but then he noticed Neville sitting on the sofa.

“Hello Ryan, my name is Professor Longbottom—”

“Longbottom!?”

“Yes, Longbottom. And I am a teacher at a school to which you have been accepted. I’d like to tell you about it.”

Ryan looked at his mum, confused. “But I thought I was going to go to the same school as Billy and Jayden and Keno?”

“Please sit down, Ryan” Neville had given ‘the talk’ enough times now to feel confident. “I’ve come here today to tell you that you, Ryan Talbot, are a wizard. I know that may sound ridiculous to you, but I want you to just think about it for a moment. Extraordinary things have happened around you, haven’t they Ryan?”

Jennifer watched her son closely as he thought about the strange things he had made happen, the vegetables he had caused to wither and shrink on his plate, that time he had run at lightening speed to save a cat from being run over. And then, was she imagining it, something darker seemed to travel across his face, there and gone in an instant.

“Are you a wizard?” Ryan asked, still sceptical.

“Yes I am, I can show you if you’d like.” At this, Neville retrieved his wand from inside his jacket and pointed it at the paperweight on the coffee table. “Wingardium Leviosa” he said and it rose gracefully into the air.

Both Jen and Ryan glared sceptically at the floating paperweight and Ryan promptly started searching for wires. He quickly gave up and looked at Neville expectantly: “What else can you do?”

Neville performed a couple more simple tricks before launching into all the information about Hogwarts.

“So I won’t see my son again until Christmas?! No, I don’t think we can, um...”

Ryan’s eyes were wide with excitement: “It’ll be ok mum, I’ll be fine!”

“What if he doesn’t go, what happens?”

“Well," said Neville, "all young witches and wizards must have a magical education, otherwise… well, it’s dangerous without. You are allowed to home-school him, but as Muggles…”

“So we don’t really have a choice?”

“Not really, Jen. But I promise you, Hogwarts is the most incredible place. It helped me become the person I wanted to be, of course, those were different times…”

“I trust you.”

“Cheers.” Neville grinned, loosing his formal tone, “Well, now the next step for you is to select a time for your guided tour of Diagon Alley to get Ryan’s school things; and you can send that letter by return of, err, well however you do that. My wife, Hannah, will be leading those tours, so you’ll be in good hands. Do you have any more questions?

“Yes. Who’s MAIVIS?”

“Oh,” said Neville, grinning once more “Right, I do know this. It stands for Magical, err, Artificial Intelligence Vessel, err… I can’t remember. It’s a thing that, I don’t really understand it to be honest, it deals with Muggle technologies and Magical business. It used to be that Muggle technology, electronics and things wouldn’t work properly around magical places, like Hogwarts, but then MAIVIS was created and now all my students have these horrible devices all the time.”

Ryan was about to ask if he could take his XBox to Hogwarts when Neville caught sight of the time and yelped: "I'm sorry but I really must go now, good luck and I'll see you at Hogwarts, Ryan!" And with that, he rushed out the door leaving mother and son feeling as though they had just been interrupted right before finishing a very difficult jigsaw.


	3. The Tour

“There!” Ryan exclaimed, pointing to a small group of people congregated to their left. Like the other families, Jen and Ryan had received a letter confirming their booking for a guided school supply shopping day, which had included a small photo of the witch leading the tour, Hannah Abbott. Even though it was a Tuesday, Charing Cross Road was quite busy, and the pair were relieved to have found the group so quickly.

Once Hannah had ticked their names off the list, she announced that they were just waiting on one more family. Jen was surprised because the group was quite small: besides her and Ryan, there were two other children, each with a mum and dad dutifully by their side. They didn’t have to wait long before the last family arrived (another perfect little family of three) and Hannah began the tour.

“Behind me is The Leaky Cauldron. It's an inn, but it also provides a gateway into the shopping street of Diagon Alley. Now, the kids here will be able to see the inn as it is, but the parents, as you are muggles, will only see a dilapidated building. Is that true all round?”

At this, all four children nodded excitedly whilst their parents shifted on their feet uncomfortably.

“Ok,” Hannah continued, “we’re going to enter in a moment and head through to the gateway, so parents, if you would take your children’s hands, they can lead you in.”

Being led blindly by her son into a world that she was clearly not a part of made Jen feel a little stupid, but as soon as she crossed the threshold, she could feel the air suddenly change from the dry, city air to a homey smell of cooking. Magic, she decided, was pretty awesome.

Hannah gathered the group in a corner of the inn and began to boast of the importance of The Leaky Cauldron, how the whole magical community passed through it, and also how, since their new cook had started working there, The Leaky Cauldron was widely considered to serve the best healing nettle stew in the country. Then, with an air of pride, Hannah led the group into the courtyard out back. She tapped her wand against the bricks so quickly, that nobody in the group had time to realise what she was doing before the whole thing began to fold outwards from the inside. As the wall unfolded, the onlookers gasped, and one of the parents, a short woman with long, sleeky blonde hair, squealed and hid behind her daughter.

Diagon Alley was an incredible sight. The long, waving street was packed with people dressed in all sorts of interesting clothes, toing and froing between the crooked buildings.

Hannah had to shout to regain the group’s attention: “Ok everyone, we’re going to make our way down the street now towards Gringott’s bank. You’ll all need to go there first to exchange your money, but as we go, I’ll point out to you the shops that you will find useful for school supplies. Can I please ask that you do not buy any unnecessary items to take back into your Muggle communities, breaking the Statute of Secrecy is a very serious offense.”

With so many shoppers in the narrow street, it was quite difficult for the party of 12 to stick together. Some shops they passed by without comment, but at others, Hannah would shout things like: “This one sells potions ingredients, you’ll need a basic set” or “Madam Malkin will sell you school robes but there’s a second-hand shop further up”

As they wove through the streets Jen’s head began to pound with the confusion of trying to process everything she saw. She kept falling behind and losing sight of Ryan who was using his expert crowd weaving skills to run up to the entrances of all the shops he thought looked exciting. At one point, Jen caught him nearly entering Quality Quidditch Supplies and had to drag him back to the group by his arm.

“But what do you think that is, mum? It looked like a sport shop!” Before Jen could even draw breath to answer, Ryan spotted something else. The whole tour group had come to a stop, to stare at a violently purple building covered in colourful displays.

“Oh yes,” smiled Hannah Abbott, “that is Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. Whilst none of their products are officially part of your essential school supplies, I should warn you that nearly every student packing off to Hogwarts in September will be carrying with them some Weasley merchandise. The Weasley’s sell a huge range of prank items which I suggest you take a look at, if only to prepare yourselves for the mischief you’ll encounter at Hogwarts.”

As the tour continued towards the huge, marble bank, Ryan kept glancing back towards Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, wondering what kinds of treasures waited inside.

Once inside Gringotts, Hannah led the group over to one of the desks and spoke to the goblin. “Hi Rutgok, I’ve got some more Muggle families here.” The goblin did not speak but merely looked straight at Hannah, not even acknowledging the others and waited.

“Right, one family at a time I’ll assist you with changing your money.” Hannah announced to the nervous-looking parents. While the other parents made their transactions Jen stared all around her in wonder. The building was incredible, but the wizards, witches and goblins going about their business were completely fascinating. At her side, Ryan had the same look of awe on his face and both mother and son laughed together when the goblin on the next desk accidently threw his glasses out of hands as he gestured to the arrogant wizard he was talking to. Their amusement didn’t go unnoticed by the goblin who gave them an icy stare before continuing his conversation. Jen was the last to hand over her large pile of notes, which made her feel a little ill, but she found it quite gratifying to receive such a hefty bag of gold in return.

Overflowing with their new galleons, the families emerged from Gringott’s, readily anticipating the fun of shopping in this strange world. Hannah gathered them round her one final time to say: “Now you all have the money you need, you can go off and shop, I am going to base myself at Edgecombe’s Cones, so if you have any questions, come and find me!”

“I think we should go and get your wand first, Ry.” Said Jen nervously. “I don’t want to overspend on everything else before we buy that.” It seemed to Jen that this was going to be a very expensive day indeed, then again, she thought, I won’t have to feed him until Christmas, so maybe I’ll recover the debt like that. But the thought of being separated from her son for so long was hardly a cheerful one.

Soon enough, the pair were entering the dark, cluttered shop which Hannah Abbott had pointed out to them. “You really should get your wands from Ollivander’s” she had said, “wands are expensive, but you have to get the right one for you if you want to do well at spellcasting.”

As Jen and Ryan’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, they saw a very hunched, frail-looking old man standing behind the desk staring at them. He was so like a skeleton that both Jen and Ryan were shocked when he opened his mouth and said: “Welcome, welcome. What is your name, child?”

Ryan, who was usually confident when talking to strangers, shrank back in the face of this ancient person, but Jen gave him an encouraging smile.

“Ryan, sir.” Ollivander raised his eyebrows questioningly, “Ryan Talbot”

“Talbot, eh, I’m not sure I know of any wizards named Talbot. You are Muggle-born?”

“Err, yes. Is that, ok?”

“Of course, of course, never mind. Sometimes knowing the bloodline can aid the search: you see, finding the right wand can be… difficult.”

As Ryan was first attacked by tape measures, and then asked to wave countless sticks of wood around, he began to realise that difficult meant it was going to take a very long time. When he was trying out his sixth wand, the shop door opened and one of the other children from their tour entered. Whilst Ryan continued trying out different wands, Jen chatted to the family. The child was a small girl named Perri, and her parents, Nelson and Bosah shared their worries with Jen. They all agreed that they didn’t know nearly enough about the world their children were entering into, and that they were worried about them being away from home for so long, but Perri it turned out, was one of four children, so their family home wasn’t going to be left with the same gaping hole of lonliness that Jen was starting to dread. She tried not to resent them for this, but she couldn't help the intense jealousy she was feeling towards all the parenting couples in the group. Ryan was her only family, and she was going to have to let him go seven years before she had planned.

After about twenty minutes of Ryan waving wands around with little success, Ollivander reached for a box shelved so low that it was practically on the floor. “Perhaps this,” he said, straightening up, “the wood is hazel and the core, unicorn hair. 10 inches, quite flexible.” This time, as Ryan moved the wand though the air, a beautiful music emanated from it, changing in pitch as he moved the wand. When the music died out everybody was beaming.

“That was incredible!” Jen exclaimed.

“Yes." said Ollivander. Even he was smiling, "You are truly bonded with that wand, Ryan. Hazelwood will be extremely loyal to its owner, I expect you will do well with this by your side.”


	4. The Joke Shop

When they finally left the dingy shop, Ryan was desperate to get to the joke shop they had seen earlier, but Jen frowned at the supply list from which they had ticked off only one item and resisted, promising that they could go there once they had bought everything they needed. So, eager to explore freely, they hurried to buy a cauldron and supplies in a shop which made both their noses wrinkle in defence against the foul-smelling jars of ingredients.

After this, they found their way into Flourish and Blotts to get Ryan’s school books. By the door was a little stack of books with the title, 'A Beginner’s Guide to Magical Life'. Jen picked it up and read the introduction:

This little book is intended as a guide to any Muggle-born students starting at Hogwarts, their close family or any Muggle relations of Wizards and Witches. For those Muggles who have recently discovered that their partner is a witch or wizard, there is a dedicated chapter at the end written by relationship expert, Cora Doyle. This book will, I hope, act as a basic induction into magical culture in the UK and globally, give a short summary of important historical happenings, and outline the crucial laws laid out by the Ministry of Magic.  
Happy reading,  
Peter Sparrow

As Jen added this to the pile of school books, Ryan grabbed a book called 'Hilarious Real-Life Spellcasting Blunders': “Look Mum, the pictures move! See, this guy’s house grew arms and attacked him when he tried to add an extension!” Jen looked at the picture and saw that it was indeed moving; the man was flailing his arms as the house dangled him from his feet.

After buying the books, there was only one item left on the list: robes. Jen had found that buying the school books and potions ingredients hadn’t cost as much as she first feared, so she told Ryan that they could get him new robes at Madam Malkin’s.

Madam Malkin was busy fitting a young, ginger boy when they walked in, whilst a young girl and two women stood chatting. One of the women had long, flaming red hair and spoke animatedly to the other, who looked more formal in a smart suit with her hair pulled back.

As Jen and Ryan entered, the women looked stopped their conversation to look at them. The woman in the suit spoke:

“Hello, I’m not sure we’ve met?”

“No, we haven’t,” Jen said, “we’re, err, new to all this.” And she gestured around her to indicate the wizarding world in general.

“Oh,” said the suit-lady, and then she looked at Ryan, “do you mean you are Muggle-born?”

Ryan, who was becoming a little irritated by everybody’s obsession with this, scowled as he replied, “Yes.”

The woman hadn’t missed the sourness in his voice, but she smiled cheerily and said, “Well, welcome to the club then! My parents are Muggles too, I know all this can take quite a lot of adjusting to, particularly for the parents- I was so busy inhaling all my school books, I don’t think I really noticed at the time how amazingly difficult it must have been for them to let me go. My name is Hermione Granger, by the way.”

“This is Ryan, and I’m Jen.”

Now the second woman spoke: “Hermione’s the Minister for Magic, so she’s an important person to know. And I’m Ginny Potter, nice to meet you both.”

“Hugo and I are going to Hogwarts this year too!” said the girl, “My name’s Lily. We might be in the same house, I can’t wait to go to Hogwarts, my brothers are there already.”

“I bet you already know loads of people there.” Said Ryan, feeling quite worried.

“Oh yes, I suppose we do” Lily began, but seeing Ryan’s worried face she added, “don’t worry though, there will be other people that don’t, and besides, you’ve met me now!”

At this point, Hugo came bounding over and said, “And me! We’re going to go to my dad’s joke shop now, but you should come over when you’ve got your robes, it’s the really colourful shop, you can’t miss it!”

“That’s your dad’s shop!?” Ryan gasped, “Awesome! We’ll see you there, won’t we, Mum?”

“Yes, of course” Jen smiled.

Ginny, Hermione, Lily and Hugo left Madam Malkin’s to go to the joke shop and Ryan hopped up onto the platform to be fitted for his robes. Watching her little boy try on such a fancy uniform made Jen a little emotional, but she managed to hide that from Ryan, and before long they were ready to go, with the supply list finished.

Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes was by far the most popular shop in the street and just getting through the front door was very difficult. There were so many young witches and wizards crammed into the aisles that Jen couldn’t really see most of the products, but she spotted a collection of people standing together chatting including Hermione and Ginny, so she steered Ryan towards them. 

“Hello again” Jen said.

Ginny beamed at the pair and said to Ryan “The kids are just over there,” she pointed to one of the busy shop aisles, “I think they’ve got most of their stuff so they can give you the tour.”

Jen pulled out her purse and said “Ok Ry, here’s…” she paused, looking perplexed at the money, “5 galleons?” Ginny nodded, “So you can spend that on whatever you like.”

Ryan took the money excitedly and rushed over to Hugo and Lily.

“Ok everyone,” announced Ginny, “this is Jen, we just met in Madam Malkin’s. She’s a muggle and her son Ryan is starting at Hogwarts this year. Jen, this is Angelica, she’s my sister-in-law, and this is Katie, a friend from school. My brothers, George and Ron run the shop. Ron is married to Hermione and George to Angelica- our family’s kind of huge.”

“It’s nice to meet you all,” Jen replied, “and I’m relieved Ryan has met some other kids from school.”

The person Ginny had introduced as Katie said “You don’t need to worry about him, he’ll find his place at Hogwarts. I was a bit of a misfit at first, but then I got into the Quidditch team in my second year and they became like my family.”

It wasn’t hard to imagine Katie as a misfit: she stood with her hands in her pockets, blinking her short, unkempt hair out of her eyes. They were beautiful eyes, though, thought Jen, and then she noticed that Katie had a scar under her chin. “What’s Quidditch?” Jen asked, pulling her thoughts back to the conversation.

“Quidditch,” Angelina smiled, “is the best sport in the world.”

“Oh no,” breathed Hermione, “don’t get this lot started on Quidditch. They are all obsessed.”


	5. The Hogwarts Express

The morning of the 1st September arrived in utter chaos. Jen had ended up buying Ryan so many little trinkets "to remind him of home" that his suitcase was bursting at the seams, and they had been forced to add a backpack and two tote bags at the last minute. To make matters worse, the train route they were going to take had been cancelled.

"What on earth is happening to all the trains today?" wailed Jen, "I don't understand, I checked yesterday and they were fine. Now all the lines we could use aren't running and it just says it's because of bad weather. I think we're going to have to walk to London Bridge and get on a train from there."

"You can't be serious, Mum? It's raining and we have all my stuff!"

"We have to, I don't know what to do if we miss the train."

"Can't we take a taxi?"

"Ry, that would be so expensive..."

"Pleeeeeease?"

Jen closed her eyes and thought. The idea of trundling Ryan's suitcase and many bags all the way to London Bridge in this weather did seem like a horrible nightmare, but her bank account hadn't yet recovered from that day in Diagon Alley. On the other hand, this would be the last day she would see Ryan until Christmas, and turning it into some kind of hellish extreme urban hike did not seem like the best way to say goodbye.

"Fine."

Twenty minutes later, they were piling all the bags into a taxi. Jen decided to ask the driver to take them all the way to King's Cross. She knew it was a horribly expensive idea, but there are some occasions in which you have to just boldly decide to deal with the consequences another time, and today was definitely one of those days. Jen just hoped that the weather would clear up for her journey home.

Once they were safely inside the shelter of King's Cross station, Jen fished out an envelope from her bag. They had received a letter a week ago containing instructions on accessing platform 9 3/4 and three tickets, two which would allow them to get through the ticket barriers at the station, and one for the Hogwarts Express. They headed towards the luggage ticket barrier feeling very conspicuous and trying not to draw any attention from the station guards. Once through, they made their way down the walk between platforms 9 and 10. Although the taxi drive had taken forever, Jen had sensibly left plenty of time for the journey, and it was still only 10:40.

Ryan rushed forwards and pointed excitedly at a wall: "This is the barrier, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I think so. Wait for me, I can't get through without you, remember?"

Ryan held out his free hand to Jen and together they took a deep breath and walked straight into the wall.

Suddenly the air was filled with steam. They had made it to platform 9 3/4! Both of them laughed in relief and began to weave their way through the crowds. When they found a good spot they stopped and loaded Ryan's luggage onto the train. Then Ryan gave Jen a huge hug and she started to cry.

"It's going to be ok, mum." He said soothingly. "I'll call you tonight and tell you all about Hogwarts, and when I'm older I'll know spells that can make us both rich and happy forever!"

Jen chuckled. "I don't think that's quite how magic works, Ry."

When they parted, they saw that one of the families they had met on the Diagon Alley tour were hovering near them. Jen recognised the dad first of all as the only parent to have tried to engage the goblins of Gringotts in conversation. It had not gone well.

"Oh, hi." Said Jen, sniffling a little. "I'm sorry, I don't remember your names?"

It was the dad who answered in a cheerful voice. "I don't think we ever told you. I'm Patrick, this is Connor, and my wife Charlotte."

They all said hello and began chatting. Patrick, Charlotte and Connor were a very likeable family, and it wasn't long before the Connor was mocking Ryan for supporting Millwall FC (Connor was a Chelsea fan) and they were both agreeing that they would have to play football together at Hogwarts. At that point, a voice interrupted: "You won't want to play football once you've seen Quidditch!" Hugo had appeared from thin air and once he had introduced himself to Connor, he said to them, "My mum said I should come and say hi and that you can sit with me and my friends on the train if you want."

The boys all agreed and the whistle started to blow. It was time for Jen to say goodbye to Ryan. All the students that had been chatting on the platform boarded the train and Jen pulled Ryan in for one last hug.

"Be good, and make sure you phone me tonight, ok?"

Ryan just smiled, nodded and boarded the train. Next to Jen, both Patrick and Charlotte had started crying. As the train left, Jen waved until she thought her arm would fall off. She felt like somebody had just carved a huge hole out of her heart.

"Jen," Hermione had come over to her, "how are you doing?"

Not wanting to burden Hermione with the truthful answer, Jen sniffled and replied, "Yeah, ok. I'm excited for him!"

Jen thought that Hermione probably understood a little of how she really felt, but she just responded with, "Good. Well, I've got to get back to work, but I just wanted to check in with you. Oh, and introduce you to my husband, Ron."

Hermione led Jen over to a small group, and Patrick and Charlotte followed them awkwardly.

"Alright, Jen this is Ron, you know Ginny and this is her husband Harry."

Jen noticed that some of the people still on the platform were watching this group as if they were all very interesting, and then she remembered something that Ginny had told her. Hermione was the Minister for Magic. And then something else popped into her brain, and she remembered reading in that book she had bought in Flourish and Blotts that there had been a huge war in the magical community in the late nineties, and the current Minister for Magic had been a war hero, and a friend of the legendary Harry Potter, the man who had defeated the most terrible wizard in history and who was distinguishable by the scar on his forehead.

"You're Harry Potter?"

"Yes, that's me" he said. Harry was so used to this question that he hardly noticed it anymore. "Well, it's nice to meet you, but I'm afraid we really need to get back to work, Hermione?"

"Yes, we do," replied Hermione, "goodbye Jen." And with that Harry and Hermione rushed off, leaving Jen with Ron and Ginny. Patrick and Charlotte were still hovering nearby.

"We were going to go to The Leaky Cauldron if you want to join us?" said Ginny, "we've got Ministry cars waiting outside curtesy of our very important spouses."

"Sounds good." Replied Jen, relieved that she didn't have to go straight back to her empty apartment.

As they turned to leave, Ginny looked at Patrick and Charlotte and said, "You guys can come too, if you want."


	6. The Pub Lunch

In the few seconds it had taken for the group to walk from the cars to the entrance of The Leaky Cauldron, they were all drenched. The weather had taken an ugly turn from normal London downpour to crazy Floridian-style thunderstorm.

“Not to worry,” Ron grinned, “Some butterbeers will warm us all up!”

Ever since opening Ryan’s acceptance letter, Jen had been filled with anxieties, but now, feeling energised by the storm and excited to spend some more time in the magical world, she began to feel them lifting for the first time in weeks. The group decided to order lunch and found a large, cosy table in the corner of the inn.

“So,” Jen looked at Ron, “you own that joke shop, right? The one in Diagon Alley?”

“Yeah, well it’s actually a whole franchise now. We’ve got a store in New York and everything, but George is the brilliant one really.”

“Joke shop?” Patrick chimed in, “Do you mean the huge one with the moving displays outside?”

“Yeah,” said Ginny, “Fred and George started it when we were still in school. Mum was really mad at first, but it was a huge success straight away. Then, when Fred died in the war, it was just George, so we all helped out when we could, and then Ron stepped in.”

“Was Fred another brother of yours?” asked Jen.

“Yeah, he was George’s identical twin.” Continued Ginny, “They were always causing mischief; a nightmare to grow up with. I’m the youngest you see, then it’s Ron, Fred and George, Percy, Charlie and Bill.”

“Wow, that’s such a big family!” Jen gasped. “I really wish I’d had siblings!”

“Yeah,” said Ron, “I mean there were times I really wished I didn’t, but my siblings are all really incredible. And I miss Fred so much- sometimes George will set up a joke as if he thinks Fred is gonna come in with the punchline, and then he just looks all sad and stuff.”

Ron and Ginny shared a little hug before Ginny politely asked Patrick and Charlotte about their lives. It turned out that they owned a bookshop in Gloucester, but that their son Connor, who was the youngest of their three children, was the only one who didn’t share their love of books. Charlotte chuckled as she described her son’s love of football and the way that he hated to be stuck inside for too long. Jen smiled as she imagined their boys bonding on the train as they each described their fantasy football teams. Then Ginny told them a little about her career in Quidditch and her experiences as a journalist. She also apologised for Harry’s briskness earlier (“He had a bit of an argument with Albus”).

When the group were just finishing the last of their lunch, a young woman entered the inn, flicking her wet hair out of her eyes.

“Katie!” cried Ginny and pulled her over to the group. “Are you here for a drink? I’ll get some more butterbeers!”

Katie Bell gave Ginny a quick hug before flopping down in the chair opposite Jen and grinning. “Hi, we met at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, right?”

“Yes, I’m Jen.”

“I remember. I love your tattoo, by the way.”

Jen smiled down at her left forearm which had a tattoo of a fern on it. “Thanks. My grandma used to have loads of ferns in the front garden. She always said that they could lead you to hidden treasure, but they just remind me of being a kid and seeing her.”

“Clever woman, your grandma. There’s actually a type of fern in Finland which, if you pick it on Midsummer night when it blooms, you can brew into a potion that will render you invisible and give you the gift to see what is hidden.”

“How on earth do you know that? I thought you didn’t like herbology?” asked Ginny, who had returned with the butterbeers.

“Heini told me- he was gifted the potion by a fan after that incredible save in '84.”

“Heini Järvinen- you’re such a namedropper!” said Ron.

“Oh, you just don’t like him because he’s good-looking. Just like Krum.” Ginny retorted.

“No I- Heini’s old! So, did he find any hidden treasure?” Asked Ron, looking disgruntled.

“Honestly it sounded like he was just really high. He told me he saw colours he’d never seen before and that the wind was whispering the truth to him.” Laughed Katie.

“I don’t know, Heini’s pretty intense like that anyway, without any questionable fern potion.” Laughed Ginny.

“I’m assuming Heini is some kind of Quidditch player?” Jen asked.

“He’s only one of the best Keepers ever!" Katie enthused. "The man’s a genius, if a little strange. You know, there’s an exhibition match on Friday night with some of the legends of the sport. Heini’s playing- you could come if you want?”

Jen had been desperate to see a Quidditch match ever since Angelina had told her about it in Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. “That would be awesome!”

The conversation had split into pairs now, with Jen and Katie making plans for Friday, Ron and Patrick sharing tips for running a business and Ginny and Charlotte comparing their mothering frustrations, until Ron finally said, “I guess I’d better get to the shop before it closes!” At this Ginny grumbled something about an article she had to write and Patrick and Charlotte announced that they had to get back to Gloucester.

A deafening crack of thunder split through the air.

“How are you getting to Gloucester?” asked Jen, peering out of the window into the dark street.

“Err, train.” Replied Patrick. But his eyebrows furrowed at the storm outside.

“We might have to book a hotel, Paddy” Charlotte sighed. “The kids will be alright, I’ll text Emily.”

Ron suggested that they stay in The Leaky Cauldron which was a good idea because the rooms were much cheaper than any Muggle hotel and far more interesting. Jen wished vaguely that she could stay the night as well, but remembered she had to work in the morning. The idea of returning to her tedious catering job after spending time in the company of actual witches and wizards was a gloomy one. Even the thought of leaving made her miss magic. Before she had to go, however, Ginny gave her the gift of one last bit of magic as she said her goodbyes, turned on the spot and vanished.

“Wow! Are you going to do that too?” she asked Katie, excitedly.

“No. I just live around the corner. Are you going to be able to get home ok?”

“Yeah, I mean maybe I could get a bus…” Jen mumbled as she tried to calculate her route home.

“Well, you know you could stay at mine if that’s easier. I haven’t seen rain like this in London for years!” As Katie said this, Jen couldn’t help but notice her cheeks flush a little. She suspected hers may have done the same, but she replied:

“Oh, I have to work in the morning, sorry. I’ll see you on Friday, though?”

“Absolutely.”


	7. Solitude

On her journey home, Katie replayed her last interaction with Katie over and over in her head. Was she just being friendly inviting her to stay the night, or was there more to it than that? Jen was worried that she might have seemed a bit stand-offish when she said no and wished she could have a redo. Maybe she should have just said yes, and called in sick to work. But for what? What did she actually want from Katie? Or more importantly, what could Katie want from her? She had remembered her from that tiny interaction in Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes hadn’t she? Jen wasn’t used to being noticed by anybody much; working in the café she sometimes felt entirely unnecessary or irrelevant, but Katie had made a point to sit opposite her in the pub. Katie had spoken directly to her, and complimented her, and made her feel valid.

For 11 years she had been a mother, and that’s all the world had seen her for, and now her child was gone, and this mysterious witch had looked at her as if she were special.

Then, another thought occurred to her- if Friday a date?

Shit. It could be.

Or of course, she could be imagining the whole thing.

She’d have to play it safe, be prepared for either date or platonic outing and in the mean time try to work out which she wanted it to be.

As she curled up on the sofa with some soup, her phone rang. By the adorable photo of a toddler wearing a fedora she could tell it was Ryan.

“Hello?”

“Hi mum! I have so much to tell you! I’m in Hufflepuff house, so is Connor, so we’re in the same dorm and we’ve just gone up to our room and it’s so cool!”

Ryan didn’t stop to take a breath, he told Jen about his room, the common room, the dining hall, and the ghosts that had burst in halfway through dinner. He told her about some of the people he’d met and that Hugo was in Gryffindor but had said they could still hang out, and how his new friends were impressed that he knew Hermione Granger’s son.

Jen listened with rapt attention at first, but after a while she wondered dully at what age he might begin to consider asking her how she was doing, for politeness sake if nothing else. She wanted to be pleased for him- she WAS pleased for him. Pleased that he was so excited and happy, but she knew he was trying to describe something to her that she would never be able to understand. Life at Hogwarts would always have to remain a mystery to her.

As she listened, feeling sorry for herself, she could hear the other boys shouting and laughing down the phone and Ryan finally awoke from his tirade to say, “Oh, we’re going to play a game to get to know each other, I’ve got to go, talk to you tomorrow!”

Jen put the phone down next to her and sat in still silence, looking at the bowl of soup on her lap. It would probably be cold, but she didn’t want to go and heat it up, so she slowly lifted a spoonful towards her mouth.

Before she knew what was happening, she was sobbing. The spoon clattered back into the bowl and her tears splashed into the soup.

She was truly alone.


	8. The Match

Jen passed the next few days in something of a depressed haze, waiting for Friday to come around. She had decided to go with jeans for clothing, but with a nice cat-pattern top which made her figure look good. With her elegant heeled boots, jewellery and cute up-do, she thought she had done quite well at picking a date or no-date versatile outfit.

She was not working on Friday anyway, as she worked flexible shifts, and had spent much of the day nervously getting ready and overthinking everything. When it got to 6.30pm she grabbed her bag and keys and headed out of the door to the train station. Twenty minutes later, she was getting off the train at Blackheath and exiting the station. She had planned to meet Katie there at seven o’clock, so she was ten minutes early. She glanced around her curiously, wondering where a secret sports match could possibly be happening. Not here on the High Street, surely?

Just as Jen was wondering whether she should go somewhere to waste 10 minutes, she saw Katie striding down the hill. She smiled.

Katie was also wearing jeans and, Jen’s eyes narrowed “Is that a Buffy top?”.

“Yes,” said Katie, “I love Muggle fantasy shows, you guys have way more imagination than anyone who actually has magic. Come on, the stadium’s this way.”

Katie lead the way to what looked like a gated residential street. “Isn’t this amazing!” Katie said. “This row of houses backs onto the commons, so Dennis Creevey bought the whole road and now the whole thing is an illusion, a front for the stadium behind. It used to be that all the best quidditch teams set up in rural areas, where there is room to hide a quidditch pitch, but now there’s going to be space for an excellent London team.”

“Who’s Dennis Creevey?” Jen asked, staring at the seemingly normal houses in wonder.

“Oh, he’s the guy who invented MAIVIS, so he’s super rich even though he’s not even thirty yet. Right, take my hand, I have to lead you through the entrance.”

They exchanged a nervous smile before joining hands and stepping forwards through the gate. The sensation of one landscape melting into another was becoming slightly more natural to Jen by now and she recovered more quickly. They were now standing in the concourse under the stadium seating and groups of people dressed in long robes milled around them buying drinks and chatting. Their hands had remained clutched together for a moment after they stepped through, but Katie dropped Jen’s hand suddenly when she spotted a haughty-looking woman striding towards them.

“Love the jeans, Bell.” Said the woman, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “I guess if nobody asks you to play you can come dressed however you want.”

“I’m here to have fun, Pansy; a concept you probably don’t understand.” Katie put a hand on Jen’s shoulder and began to lead her away.

“Maybe your new girlfriend has a team you can join?” Pansy shouted after them.

The short encounter with Pansy Parkinson had caused Katie to deflate from her bubbly, excited persona into one of embarrassment. She opened her mouth to try to explain to Jen, but Jen just said “She’s an arsehole, don’t worry about it.”

Katie gave Jen a tour around the stadium explaining the different entrances and how they were used. There was an entrance for apparition, one for portkeys, and another for the floo network. Jen found the last one particularly funny and asked Katie of Santa was a wizard, to which she replied “If I told you I’d be on the naughty list.”

Once they had seen the stadium and bought two pumpkin pasties, they climbed the steps to their seats. On the way a girl who looked about sixteen years old ran up to Katie and asked for her autograph. Jen had watched how this little bit of recognition helped Katie hold herself up straighter and she wore an amused smile all the way to their seats.

Once they’d sat down, Jen turned to her and said “So you’re famous then?”

“The magical world is so small, to be honest everybody’s kind of famous.” But seeing Jen’s eye roll she added, “I played for the Wimbourne Wasps at the height of my career, but it didn’t last long. I started dating the team captain and then when we split up word got out that and everybody said that I’d only gotten into the team because we were dating, which was completely ridiculous because we didn’t even know each other before I got in. Then the fans campaigned to get us both thrown off the team for ‘unprofessional behaviour’ but that’s not the true reason they wanted us gone.”

“What’s the true reason?” Jen asked.

Katie looked around nervously at the people taking their seats nearby. “Not here.” She said.

Before long, some music started playing and a man Katie said was Dennis Creevey came onto the pitch. He pointed his wand to his neck and spoke in a voice that resonated with ease around the entire stadium.

“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to this very special match. Thank you all so much for coming here today to support our amazing new Quidditch team, The Greenwich Griffins! We have a marvellous match lined up for you today, which will include some of the greatest legends of the sport playing alongside some of the fresh talents who will be playing for the Griffins in the league. After the match you will have the opportunity to meet some of these incredible athletes, and all the funds raised today will be used to support this wonderful new stadium. So, without further ado, let’s meet the players!”

As the players were announced, Katie would add little bits of information about some of them for Jen’s benefit.

Most of the players were British, with the exception of Heini Järvinen and Viktor Krum who, Katie said, both had a lot of connections in the UK so where happy to come and support. Krum, Katie said, was sure to catch the snitch as the other seeker, Gregory Cotton, could never compete with Krum’s talent. Cotton was on the same team as Järvinen and they were dressed in robes of bright orange. On Krum’s team, who were all dressed in blue, Jen was surprised to hear that one of the young chasers announced had the surname Weasley.

“Yes, Ron and Ginny’s niece.” Katie said, seeing Jen’s reaction, “Victoire’s still in school, but they let her join the team and leave the school for matches because there are so few decent players in their twenties. There’s a bit of a generation gap due to the war.”

Before long the match was underway and Jen found herself sitting on the very edge of her seat in excitement. The speed at which the chasers passed around the quaffle was exhilarating, but even more impressive was the way in which the keepers could suddenly appear in front of whichever hoop the chasers were aiming at when they had been hovering near another one just a second before. Heini Järvinen demonstrated incredible speed and agility, even though he looked as though he were in his sixties, and he easily outclassed the opposing team’s keeper, McLaggen. Unfortunately for Järvinen, it was the blue team who kept having goal opportunities and despite some masterful saves, the orange team where soon trailing 90-60.

Suddenly, Katie grabbed Jen’s arm and pointed high into the air, when she followed Katie’s finger, Jen saw what looked like a blue bolt of lightning streaking down towards the pitch. The orange team seeker, Cotton, was trying to catch up, but Krum was easily ahead. Everybody in the stands was cheering as they saw Krum reach out his hand towards a tiny glint of gold. Quickly their cheers turned to screams as the two bludgers whistled towards him. The seeker brought his outstretched hand back onto his broom and pulled the handle upwards, letting the bludgers bounce off of each other with a mighty crash. The snitch was still in his sights but now he was close enough for Jen to see him cursing as one of the bludgers wheeled back towards him. This time, he darted completely out of its path, and the snitch was lost.

The crowd hardly had time to groan before they realised that at the other end of the pitch, an exciting battle was taking place. Victoire Weasley was streaking down the pitch, marked by all three opposing chasers. Her own teammates had been distracted by Krum and were in no position to help her, but instead of falling back and giving her team time to find good positions, she kept her course, skilfully dodging any attempts at tackling the quaffle from her. Now she was nearly at the goal hoops, approaching from the right-hand side. She drew her arm back ready to score. As Järvinen dove to protect the right hoop, she pulled her broom handle upwards to hang upside down and, throwing the quaffle a little way ahead of her, she kicked it straight through the centre hoop.

It was an incredible goal, the whole crowd roared and Järvinen held out his hand for Victoire to shake. The young chaser accepted this gesture, and gave a brief acknowledgement to the crowd, she was not smiling but looked full of fiery energy. In a few short seconds she had changed the image of those around her from revered legends of quidditch to a collection of old has-beens. Her expression showed that she knew that she was the future of quidditch.

When Victoire scored, Katie had cheered loudly, her hands making fists in the air. She looked at Jenny, smiling with genuine joy, and when they sat back down in their seats, she had let her hand fall not into her own lap, but onto Jen’s thigh. Jen responded with a giggle by putting her own hand into Katie’s, and then they were both laughing with relief. They had made it past the first awkward rules and complications of flirting. Now they both knew that they were definitely on a date, and, more importantly that it was going well.


End file.
